


Worth It

by DillieBar



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Bickering, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Love, Romance, Useless Lesbians, dina is the best girlfriend in the world, ellie is a stupid bitch who can't accept help from anyone, we still stan but seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24046546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DillieBar/pseuds/DillieBar
Summary: Ellie always has to be doing something. She hates sitting around, and she hates it when people do stuff for her. So when she gets sick, and her girlfriend Dina insists on sticking by her side while she recovers, she just can't manage to sit still.
Relationships: Dina & Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 224





	Worth It

It had started off with a sore throat, and had progressed to a small cough, and eventually grew to the point where Ellie had found herself angry that she had taken breathing for granted before she had begun to get sick. She hated it, but didn’t think much of it, considering that she had just been out on patrol a week and a half ago and probably caught a cold or something simple, something that would go away on its own. 

And while she was miserable, she wouldn’t let anyone else see that.

“Tommy, I’m really-” a strained hack emerged from her throat as she covered her mouth with her arm, “I’m fine, okay? It’s getting better.”

Ellie was supposed to have another patrol that day with Dina, and she was pretty persistent about going. After all, if she didn’t, the two would be separated for days, and she knew how much her girlfriend worried sometimes. Not to mention, she didn’t like sitting around. Tommy had already made her give up some watchtower shifts that week, and she was starting to feel pretty helpless all cooped up in her house like this.

Tommy shook his head, “I can’t have you risking getting everyone else sick with whatever you got, alright? And what would happen if you came across a group’a clickers?”

The girl sighed in defeat, the thought of putting anyone else in danger, especially Dina, haunting her mind for a brief moment before she broke out in another agonizing coughing fit.

“We’ll get someone to take it for you, alright? Just get some rest.”

Ellie nodded before closing the door and slumping down to the floor. Her head felt dizzy, as if she had just been on one of those crazy carnival rides she had seen while out gathering supplies. Her eyelids were as heavy as lead, and even the blood that ran through her veins felt gross along with the rest of her body. 

She could feel herself drifting off, and so she pushed herself up weakly, intending to end up in bed but only managing to make it to the living room couch before plopping herself down. Her tense muscles relaxed at the relief. The old cushions would usually provide minimal comfort but she found herself sinking into them as if they were clouds. 

Tommy had probably let Dina know by now that she wasn’t going to be able to make it. She pictured the shorter girl’s beautiful, beautiful face that made her heart go warm. The more she thought about her flawless skin, her addicting voice, and those deep brown eyes the more she found herself slipping into a tempting and much-needed sleep. 

After only minutes of lying there, sleep engulfed her.

  
  


When Ellie felt herself awake she kept her eyes closed, hoping that she could fall back into that addicting sense of comfort and security that came from rest. She probably would have, too, if she hadn’t noticed the freshly-washed blanket wrapped around the majority of her body. That wasn’t there before.

She slowly opened her eyes, rubbing at them and pulling at the blanket on top of her. It was a soft, blue fleece blanket, and she instantly knew it because it was the one she always curled up in whenever she stayed at a specific someone’s house.

Ellie sat up and took a look at her surroundings. To her left, a fire crackled in the fireplace, warm and incredibly inviting. A cup of water sat on the glass coffee table next to her, and at the sight she instantly grabbed for it, not realizing how dry her throat was until then. By the door she saw a familiar pair of shoes on the doormat, and her suspicions were confirmed when she succumbed to another sudden coughing fit, prompting her girlfriend to appear in the archway that connected the living room to the kitchen.

Witnessing the scene, Dina rushed over to the taller girl’s side, sitting down next to her on the couch, minding her legs, and rubbing circles on her back gently as Ellie worked through it. Dina grabbed the glass of water from the table and held it, ready for whenever she needed it.

As soon as Ellie was able to find a break from the coughing she desperately chugged the rest of the water down. Slowly but surely the fit subsided, and she leaned back against the arm of the couch while her sore throat recovered.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out on patrol?” she asked weakly, eyes closed.

Dina grabbed the girl’s hand, caressing it delicately.

“You really think I’d leave your dumbass here like this?” she teased, “You barely take care of yourself when you’re  _ healthy _ . I asked Noah to cover.”

Ellie’s heart ached at the fact that Dina had stayed behind for her. First, she couldn’t go on patrol herself, and now she had to hold everyone else back, too?

She groaned in protest, “You should really go home.”

“I don’t want to go home.”

“You’re gonna get sick.”

“I’ll tell sick to fuck off.”

The comment elicited a laugh from the sick girl, which quickly turned into yet another string of worryingly-deep, wet coughs. Whatever this was, it definitely wasn’t just a cold, but still, Dina showed no desire to leave her girlfriend’s side. If anything, it only made her want to stay more than she already had.

Dina was like that. She never backed down from a fight, regardless of how shitty or unfair the odds might be. Even before they started dating, she always showed so much care and pure love for Ellie that the older girl had never quite seen in her life. She was definitely something special.

“I’m gonna go get the thermometer.”

Ellie grabbed at the shorter girl’s wrist.

“Dina I’m fine, please go home.” she croaked between coughs.

“If you’re fine, then the thermometer will say so.”

Ellie sighed and let go of her wrist after realizing that she wasn’t going to win, watching her perfect shape, covered loosely in Ellie’s own grey hoodie, disappear into the bathroom at the end of the hall. 

She was so lucky to have her.

Dina returned to her spot on the couch with the thermometer in hand. She delicately pressed the back of her hand to her girlfriend’s forehead first, scrunching her face at what was most definitely a fever. 

“Open.”

“Dina-”

“Ellie.” she challenged softly at the sick girl’s stubbornness. Suddenly she felt her body heat up at the demanding tone, not just from the likely fever. She reluctantly obliged and allowed the thermometer to be placed under her tongue. Silence overcame them again as they waited.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were this sick?”

Ellie sighed, trying to think up a good answer, knowing at this point she was probably in the wrong, but ultimately failed to find one.

“Because I’m not.”

Dina replied with an all-to-obvious roll of her eyes and took the thermometer in her hands, mouth agape as she read the temperature on the small device.

“What, are you  _ 102%  _ sure about that?”

Ellie raised an eyebrow.

Dina flipped the thermometer to show the reading, which, matching her snarky-ass comment, was a whopping 102 degrees. Yep, definitely not a cold.

“So  _ that’s  _ what you meant the other day when you said I was ‘smokin’” she laughed.

In response she only got a death glare from the girl sitting by her legs, as if whatever this was wouldn’t kill her already.

That’s when Dina stood from her spot on the couch and made her way to the door, putting on her hiking boots and a pair of gloves.

“I’m going to the clinic. Drink some water, and  _ sleep _ , please.”

Ellie let out a mumbled “yeah” before turning over onto her side and pulling the blanket up over her body yet again as she heard the front door close lightly. Great, now they not only had to mix up patrol schedules, but they had to waste supplies on her, too. She knew arguing would only make it tense, and after seeing her temperature she knew she was sick, but she was Ellie. She’d get over it.

Even so, she tried her best to abide by what Dina had told her to do. But at the same time, no matter how she tossed and turned and readjusted the pillow, she couldn’t seem to last a minute without having to cough something up. Her head and sinuses felt congested and she just couldn’t seem to clear her throat. It was like she was being fucking waterboarded or something, and the more she tried to ignore it the worse it got. Not to mention, the seconds ticking by had begun to feel like years. After a while of waiting she couldn’t take it anymore. One brief walk couldn’t hurt, could it? Or maybe she could even keep working on some projects around the house that she had started, like fixing the holes in the fence or reorganizing the cupboards.

Ellie smiled at the thought of finally thinking of a loophole. She wasn’t  _ interacting  _ with anyone. Technically she wasn’t  _ leaving  _ the property. She would probably even be able to get the fence done before Dina got back. After all, it wasn’t that big of a job and she had been meaning to get it done for at least a month. Now was probably the time to do it, when quite frankly there was nothing else for her to do. She might as well do something productive. 

And so, Ellie made her way clumsily over to the coat-rack, throwing on the first jacket that she could find and lazily slipped on her boots, either not bothering or just plain forgetting to tie them. She grabbed her red toolbox from beside the door, making sure that she had everything she needed, and pushed the door open. The cold rushed in, and immediately she regretted it. 

It had started to snow, and the temperature had definitely dropped since the day before. Still, Ellie slipped on a pair of gloves, took a deep breath, and stepped outside. She was already sick, what hurt could a little more cold do?

To work she went with her hammer and nails, kneeling on the thin layer of snow, brushing small clumps of white flakes off of the spare wood and lining them up over the holes. They were mismatched, since she didn’t really see the point in painting them white like the rest of the fence, but she didn’t mind. What she  _ did  _ mind was the cough that kept interrupting as she hammered nails into the fence. It was coming along a heck of a lot slower than she initially planned, since she had to stop every minute or so to satisfy the itching in her throat.

In an attempt to get the fence done faster, she hammered harder, trying to get the nails in as fast as possible. And it worked, for a bit. In fact, she was about halfway done when she made the devastating mistake of sneezing mid-swing. The hammer went crashing down on her thumb,  _ hard _ .

“Jesus  _ fuck! _ ”

Ellie dropped the hammer and nail and shook her hand, almost as if it would shake away the pain that radiated from the spot she hit. When she took off her glove and looked down at her thumb to inspect any damage, she could already see it starting to bruise under the nail, which wasn’t so bad but it certainly hurt just as much as slamming your finger in a car door. She whispered curses under her breath as she went back inside, slamming the front door behind her and throwing her jacket off on the couch.

Even though there wasn’t really anything she could do about it, Ellie ran her hand under some cold water, which at least managed to soothe the burning pain in her thumb for as long as she held it there. She didn’t have any pain killers, and even if she did, she wouldn’t bother using them on something like this.

That’s when she heard the front door creak open and a familiar voice echoed through the house.

  
“Ellie?” Dina called out from the living room.

_ Shit.  _

Ellie wiped her hand dry on her jeans and made her way out into the hall. Dina was carrying a few bags, one of which was a small, paper bag clearly from the pharmacy and the other which was paper, full with groceries. She stood tense, realizing that she hadn’t remembered to bring her toolbox inside, and sincerely hoped that Dina hadn’t noticed.

Then her mind switched gears when she noticed how absolutely stunning her girlfriend looked right then. Small, white snowflakes rested gently atop her head of black hair, while others left small spots of condensation on her hoodie and face. Her nose and cheeks were a little more red from the cold than usual, and when she noticed Ellie standing in the hallway, the cutest smile stretched across her face.

She was so beautiful.

“So I talked to Denice at the clinic. She said you might have pneumonia, but I guess there isn’t any medicine for that on-hand, so I just got you some stuff to help with the cough. I got some food too since your cupboards look like you don’t even live here.”

A laugh escaped her lips and a wave of appreciation ran through Ellie’s body as she went over to help with the bags. They unpacked everything on the dining room table silently, with a few stray coughs here-and-there and some concerned glances from Dina. At one point Ellie reached for a can at the same time as her girlfriend, their fingers brushed together, and that’s when Dina noticed it.

“Hey what’s up with your thumb?”

Ellie looked down at her finger, which had now become more bruised than before, and by now it was definitely noticeable. A small panic arose in her chest as she searched for an answer, but she really just spout the first white lie that came to mind. 

“Oh, uh, I don’t know. I think it’s been like that. Weird, huh?”

Dina’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t buying it, but there was no way that Ellie would let her be right about this whole “being sick” and “staying inside” thing.

“Uh-huh.” Dina said, taking a second look around the house. She hadn’t bothered to look too closely when she got back, but now it was all starting to come together.

“Why’s your jacket on the couch?”

Ellie was stunned. There was no going back now.

“I got cold.”

“Yeah? Then why are you wearing your shoes.”

Ellie scratched the back of her neck, trying her best to think of an excuse.

“My… feet got cold.”

Dina took one last look around the room with a swivel of her head, and that’s when she noticed one key thing that was missing.

  
“Where’s your toolbox?”

The way she said it as more of a statement than a question, her eyes narrowed and head slightly tilted made Ellie realize that she had been caught red-handed,  _ literally _ . When she failed to come up with an answer, Dina walked over to the front door, took one look outside, and turned back with an annoyed expression on her face.

“ _ Really _ , Ellie?”

Ellie sighed and slumped back against the table. She was really in for it, now.

“I’m gone for  _ maybe _ thirty minutes and in the meantime, you’ve managed to not only probably make yourself more sick by going outside but  _ also  _ bash your thumb with a hammer?”

Ellie looked down at her boots the entire time Dina went on. She knew she was right. She knew that fixing a fence in the middle of what was about to become a blizzard was probably a stupid reason to get off the couch, but the latter sounded just as stupid to her, too. Why should she stay inside, all comfortable on the couch while everyone else is out there doing something to help?

But she stayed silent throughout the majority of Dina’s rant, and she tried to remain that way even as the itching in her throat became unbearable, but she was human, and she couldn’t contain it forever.

“I mean I’m trying to  _ help _ -”

Dina was cut off when Ellie broke out into what was probably the worst of the coughing fits she had gotten since she began to get sick. The coughs were deep, heavy, and filled with pain, and suddenly the mood changed from tense to caring within seconds. Her girlfriend’s eyes softened as she made her way back to the taller girl, rubbing her back to console her. They stayed like that for a few moments until Dina remembered the medicine she got from the clinic was only a few feet away.

She took the bottle of red-liquid, which Dina had honestly never seen in her life, but Denice swore by, and poured some into the little cup that came with it. It smelled nasty but it was worth a shot. At least the bottle said it was cherry flavored. How bad could it be?

She gave the cup to Ellie, who was still hunched over, coughing, who downed it immediately without question. She made a face at the taste, but despite all of the coughing she managed to get it down just fine. Soon the coughing began to subside, but Dina grabbed her another glass of water just in case.

“God that stuff is fucking disgusting.”

Dina laughed, more out of relief that it actually worked than at her comment.

“You’ve had it before?”

Ellie grabbed for the water and chugged it down. She took a few deep breaths before answering.

“Yeah, wouldn't recommend it.”

They both laughed that time at the predicament. It was stupid, really, when Ellie thought about it. That moment of relief when Dina pulled out that disgusting little cup of red medicine made her realize just how much she appreciated all of this. Her gentle touch, her girlfriend’s caring nature, and even as much as she hated to admit it, the nagging, too.

“I just wanted to help with something.” Ellie said quietly, throat still sore.

Dina nodded in understanding, “I know, but everyone needs a break sometimes.”

Ellie laughed, “Well someone has to pick up the slack.”

“But it doesn’t always have to be you.” Dina retorted without hesitation.

They both fell silent after that, as Ellie looked up to meet Dina’s gaze. She looked into those beautiful brown eyes that stared right back into her own emerald green ones. Suddenly she felt a little bit of guilt form in her chest at her own stubbornness. Her girlfriend was right, there wasn’t anything wrong with getting a bit of help sometimes. After all, she had certainly been grateful for all the help Dina had given her that day, and just a few minutes before. Ellie would’ve kissed her in that moment if it didn’t increase the chances of her getting whatever she had, so instead she settled for the second best thing.   
  
“I love you.”

The corners of Dina’s lips pulled up into a small smile.

“I know, dumbass.”

Ellie scoffed, “Wow, thank-.”

Before she had a chance to finish Dina leaned over and planted a small kiss on her cheek, setting every single one of Ellie’s nerves on fire. Her mind was boggled by how she was able to do that every time they kissed, but the taller girl never complained.

“Now let’s get you some soup.”

* * *

  
  


It took awhile for Ellie to get back to her fully-functioning self, given that coming across specific medications was generally pretty rare when out scavenging for supplies, but every patrol made a note of it, and one group actually managed to make it back with a few bottles of penicillin which she was extremely grateful for.

In the meantime Ellie and Dina continued to bicker every now-and-then over what counted as “resting” and what counted as “pushing yourself”, but they always managed to work it out in the end, and despite Ellie’s reluctance to have her girlfriend around while she was sick she ended up being appreciative of her presence. 

She enjoyed having her around so much, in fact, that they finally decided to move in together after a year of being in a relationship.

“Alright, well, I think that’s everything.”

Ellie set down the last box of Dina’s things inside the bedroom, which she’d now be sharing half of. She was both excited and nervous, knowing that they would most definitely have disagreements about various things, but also knowing that they managed to balance each other out pretty well. 

Dina fell back onto the bed, claiming the right half which was now her’s. Ellie laid down next to her, watching her girlfriend roll over and she stared into those beautiful deep eyes that she loved so much.

“Are you sure you’re feeling better?”

Ellie nodded, “I’m sure.”

The shorter girl smiled and nuzzled into her chest, holding as close as she could. Ellie could smell the faint scent of cinnamon from her girlfriend as she wrapped her arms around her.

“Of course, now there are little germ monsters everywhere, so you’re gonna get it now, too.”

Dina released a small laugh.

“Worth it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so yeah I think we all definitely needed some fluff after that trailer (tbh I'm still mad they didn't give us like ANY ellie/dina content but whatever), and I started this fluff fic a couple of days ago and thought I might as well post it today.
> 
> Feel free to add me on Tumblr, @dilliebar , where I post more Ellie/Dina bullshit and thirsty Ellie posts. Thanks ya'll for reading!


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